Patient Falls: Reducing Patient Falls with Injury

The occurrence of patient falls is a very important health concern facing the healthcare industry. Many patients not only experience falls, but have falls with an injury. This is a patient safety concern that can have serious effects on patient outcomes, is a leading cause of patient injuries in hospitals, and are costly adverse events (Trepanier & Hilsenbeck, 2014). It is important that healthcare professionals determine ways to prevent what has been deemed a preventable event (Bemis-Dougherty & Delaune, 2008). In 2005 The Joint Commission (TJC) included patient falls with injury as part of their National Patient Safety Goals (Bemis-Dougherty & Delaune, 2008). The desire was to reduce these events that cause harm to patients in the hospital setting.